TEXAS LEGISLATURE: Ban on texting goes to Senate

Bill contains exceptions; Perry against

AUSTIN — The House on Wednesday approved 98-47 the criminalization of texting while driving, despite opposition from Gov. Rick Perry, who has vetoed a texting while driving bill before.

The bill still requires a perfunctory third reading in the House and then Senate approval before heading to the governor.

Police could have a tough time with the texting while driving ban, should it become state law, San Angelo Police Department Chief Tim Vasquez said.

"It's a very difficult law to enforce," Vasquez said.

Someone could say they were looking up a number or looking at a map, he said, both exceptions in the bill.

Corpus Christi Police Department Traffic Lt. Art Trevino said the law might not be easy to enforce, although he has witnessed people texting while driving. Witnesses who saw someone texting while driving might be used in court, he said.

"Any law that is going to make the road safer is going to be a law we'll support," Trevino said.

The bill that representatives approved in the full House on Wednesday is House Bill 63 by Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland.

HB 63 would make texting while driving a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $100 fine, and a fine of up to $200 for repeat offenses.

Exceptions include looking up a name or number to make a phone call, using a GPS map system or using the phone in an emergency.

Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, has a Senate version of the bill with Senate Bill 28.

The law already prohibits those younger than 18 from driving and operating cellphones, and no cellphone use is allowed in school zones.

"Gov. Perry continues to believe that texting while driving is reckless and irresponsible, and as he noted last session, current law already prohibits drivers under age 18 from texting or using a cellphone while driving," an email from Perry spokesman Josh Havens stated late last month.

Spokeswoman Lucy Nashed in the governor's office said Wednesday morning that Perry's position hasn't changed.

The Legislature can override a veto with a two-thirds vote from members present in the originating chamber and two-thirds in the other chamber, but not after the session ends. The governor can still veto bills 20 days after the session.

Craddick offered numerical support for his bill: Driving while texting is at least as dangerous as driving while intoxicated; a driver is 23 times more likely to be in a crash while texting; and a driver who is texting at 55 mph can drive the length of a football field without looking up at the road.

"In 2009, 5,474 people were killed on U.S. roadways and an estimated additional 448,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes that were reported to have involved distracted driving," a 2010 U.S. Department of Transportation study states. "Of those people killed in distracted-driving-related crashes, 995 involved reports of a cellphone as a distraction."

In the debate on the floor, Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, asked how someone might know if a text message is an emergency, and thereby be exempt, if a person isn't allowed to read the text message.

Rep. Eddie Lucio, D-Harlingen, said "you would have to go through the process" and could offer the explanation to a judge.

Amendments from Rep. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, and Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, would've required that law enforcement personnel use more than texting as a reason to stop someone.

One amendment from Dutton would've not make texting the primary cause for getting pulled over. The vote on that amendment narrowly failed 69-74.

Supporters said the bill would stop discrimination in law enforcement pulling over suspects.

One adopted amendment from Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, would undo more restrictive cellphone-driving restrictions that cities have adopted and "harmonize" them with state law. The law was primarily focused on El Paso and Amarillo.

El Paso representatives were able to offer an amendment that lets El Paso keep its city cellphone ban.

Over the past few months, families have shared tearful testimonies with committee members about loved ones who have died as a result of texting while driving and distracted driving.

Staff Sgt. Javier Zamora, for instance, survived the war in Iraq only to be killed in 2007 in a wreck with a distracted driver. Zamora's wife testified in favor of Craddick's bill.

The bill is called the Alex Brown Memorial Act, named for a high school senior who died in a single-vehicle crash because of texting while driving.

Rep. George Lavender, R-Texarkana, said that according to studies he had read, driving crashes increased in some areas with restrictions, indicating that people were attempting to text surreptitiously and, as a result, became even more distracted.

So far, 39 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands have banned texting while driving, according to the Governor's Highway Safety Association. Meanwhile 25 cities in Texas already ban texting while driving.

"This is a uniform ban across the state," Craddick said. "It's about public safety and saving lives."

Matthew Waller covers the Legislature for Scripps Newspapers and works in Austin. Contact him at mwaller@gosanangelo.com or via Twitter @waller_matthew.